1-800-got-junk?

[maslex]

I've watched those "Clean House" type shows and have seen these trucks at those sites and I'm wondering if anyone has ever used this company?

My parents are in the middle of moving from a house to an apt. Long story, short...they bought a duplex 3-4 years ago with my brother (he and his family were going to live of the other half) Things didn't work out and my brother/his family bought their own house back in Dec.

Plus, my mom's brother and parents have all passed on and she has kept their stuff in storage over the years and the stuff has eventually moved into this house. The basement was LOADED with this stuff and also throughout the house. It was almost to the point of hoarding, literally.

Well, MOST of the stuff in the downstairs (living room, kitchen/dining room, bathroom) and one of the upstairs bedrooms has been moved out into the new place. There's just "stuff" all over the floor (papers, unwanted junk, etc...it's just thrown there) So this morning, I go over there to help pack up her craft room and OH MY GOODNESS, complete hoarding in there. She had to clear a spot just for me to put a chair in there to sit down. It's truly disgusting. I was like We spent 3 hours and went through a lot of stuff (packed up some stuff to take, some stuff to donate to a school or library and threw a LOT of it away---think about 5-6 garbage bags worth) AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN MADE A DENT IN THAT DAMN ROOM!!!

And the other bedroom upstairs was my father's "computer room". I peeked in there today and it was almost as bad as her craft room. I don't even know what is all over the floor but it can't be very valuable if it's all over the floor, ya know?

Then we move onto the basement. I can't even remember the last time they were down there. And this is where 90% of her parents and brother's stuff was stored. Thing is....we had a flood a couple years ago and I know most of that stuff was ruined but the never cleaned it out. It's still just sitting there. I can't even imagine what it's like down there not to mentioned everything is probably all moldy.

It's so damn embarrassing. I have no idea how or why they live like that. I know my grandparents were neat as a pin, my sister is immaculate and my brother and I are clean. (maybe a bit of clutter, think "lived in", not messy)

Anyhow, I guess this long story isn't so short afterall. LOL I got to thinking that maybe after all the stuff is moved out of her craft room that she wants to keep if it would be a good idea to call 1800gotjunk?

I don't really know how they work. Do they just take big stuff or will they clear out all the garbage all over this place? Or will we have to bag up all this garbage and they'll just haul away the bags? If you or anyone you know has dealt with this company or one like it, could you please tell me how they work and if it's worth it? Thanks

 

[dvcmom72]

Hi,
I have never used them but did look into them when I moved last year. I had a lot of "junk"...just stuff I didn't want to take with me but it was too much to put out with the weekly garbage pick up. Honestly, I did quite a bit of searching around and ended up finding someone "local" to do the same job for a fraction of what these bigger junk removal companies charge. I believe I found him by going on to the service master website? He was a landscaper but did junk removal on the side. He charged me one flat fee for whatever he could fit into his truck (and attached trailer). I would suggest doing some looking around first. Hope that helps. And good luck!

 

[Coconut36]

You can go to their website and find out some general pricing info. As I understand it they will come in wherever and get the junk/trash out for you (vs other situations where you would have to haul it out to the curb or yard). I think they can be rather pricey though so something to keep in mind. http://www.1800gotjunk.com/us_en/what-we-do/what_we_do.aspx

DH and I had a horribly messy garage..not hoarded but we needed to purge a lot out of it. I had baby clothes I would never use again, clothes that no longer fit me or DH and tons of other stuff. We chose to rent a large U-haul truck and take the trash stuff (not worth donating) to the dump. We then took all the donate stuff (old clothes, toys, pictures..etc) and donated that. We got the entire thing done in a day. It was about $40 for the truck/mileage and extra coverage on the u-haul.

 

[nmmom95]

We used them. They were great! We bought a vacation home that came furnished and there was a lot of stuff we didn't want. Large items are such a pain to get rid of, because there are only certain pick-up days, etc. They charge by the truckload, but they were really good about packing to fit as much as possible. They took everything. We did bag some of the smaller stuff, but things like lamps they just carried away.

 

[maslex]

I guess my big concern is all the garbage all over the floors. It's basically papers, clothes, dishes, odds/ends, etc. It's all useless stuff. They didn't even really "pack". Nothing wrapped in newspaper and carefully packed in boxes and taped up ready to go. NOPE....it was whatever box was laying around, stuff was tossed into it. I don't know how they did it.

But I'm wondering if a "got junk" type of place deals with loose stuff all over the place or do they require everything atleast in bags/boxes so they can just haul it away. If that's the case, then I would tell them not to even bother hiring anyone.

 

[Hoodie]

I guess my big concern is all the garbage all over the floors. It's basically papers, clothes, dishes, odds/ends, etc. It's all useless stuff. They didn't even really "pack". Nothing wrapped in newspaper and carefully packed in boxes and taped up ready to go. NOPE....it was whatever box was laying around, stuff was tossed into it. I don't know how they did it.

But I'm wondering if a "got junk" type of place deals with loose stuff all over the place or do they require everything atleast in bags/boxes so they can just haul it away. If that's the case, then I would tell them not to even bother hiring anyone.

I don't think they'd do the cleaning, just remove what's in bags/boxes.

That said, I used College Hunks Hauling Junk to remove some stuff. One was a couch that was beyond shot. Even though the movers had gotten it into the apartment, we couldn't get it out. They hacked the thing to pieces in my living room (with my permission of course) and removed every splinter.

 

[princesspiglet]

We used Got Junk back in 2009 and they were great. We had a rental house and our tennants just up and moved out and left everything behind. The house was filled top to bottom with crap everywhere. We hired Got Junk and told them to get rid of everything that was in the house except for appliances. They removed furniture, tv's, clothes, papers, books, bags and bags of junk, etc. When we came back 3 days later it was spotless. Everything was gone. The place was still dirty but there was nothing left. They charged us by truckload and each truck was about $325. We ended up having three truck loads of stuff removed. It was pricey, but in the end totally worth it.

 

[maslex]

We used Got Junk back in 2009 and they were great. We had a rental house and our tennants just up and moved out and left everything behind. The house was filled top to bottom with crap everywhere. We hired Got Junk and told them to get rid of everything that was in the house except for appliances. They removed furniture, tv's, clothes, papers, books, bags and bags of junk, etc. When we came back 3 days later it was spotless. Everything was gone. The place was still dirty but there was nothing left. They charged us by truckload and each truck was about $325. We ended up having three truck loads of stuff removed. It was pricey, but in the end totally worth it.

Yeah, I'm thinking this is basically what I'm looking for. Aside from the "extra stuff" lying around, there is a kitchen table, a couch and possibly some big stuff upstairs. NOt much but whatever they're not taking. Even though there is a lot of stuff that they're not taking, I'm not even sure it'd fill a whole truck.

The thing is, my parents both have health issues and I'm not in the best physical shape to be cleaning up all that junk, so I was thinking hiring someone like this would be the answer.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

We used them a few years ago and they were wonderful. Very fast, very pleasant - I would definitely use them again. It was less expensive than I had expected, too.

Teresa

 

[Rence]

We used them a few months ago. They told us that all we had to do was "point". Which was pretty much how it worked. We did have things segregated so that we made sure that nothing we wanted to keep was too close to items we were having hauled away.

They charge based on the amount of space you take up in the truck - you can call to get current rates. I think that they will pick up loose junk - we had small items (small appliances and other small items loose) that they took.

It was fast and painless - a bit pricey compared to some other options - but they do everything and you just sit back.

A side story -we had gotten a Groupon for 800gotjunk in spring of 2011 - we looked at it closely before purchasing and it and it said it expired in August of 2012 - we bought it because we knew we wouldn't be ready to use it right away. We called him last October and they said that the Groupon had expired in August of 2011 and they couldn't accept it (they did offer to give us the amount we paid for it, just not the face value of it). We told them that we had it in front of us and it said 2012. He said he needed to check on something and he'd call us back in 5 minutes. He called back in 3 - said he looked into it, it was a mistake, it should have expired in 2011 - but that they would honor it. I was very impressed with how promptly they handled this - I don't fault them for needing to double check things - and I do applaud them for a fast and positive response.

 

[dicar123]

We used them a couple of years ago. My husband had taken down our deck and he was remodeling the kitchen. He just didn't want to deal with getting rid of all the stuff. He called them and they came two hours later, carried everything from the backyard to the truck and even swept up the driveway when they were done.

Maybe not the cheapest solution if you have more than one truckload, but it was efficient.

 

[daisax]

We've used them several times at my condo complex (so multiple owners could have one or several large items removed conveniently). Believe me, it was worth every penny to have them go into my basement and bring up a broken treadmill and take it away -- for under $100 (my share of the truckload).

There are $25 charges for certain items like microwaves that have hard to dispose of elements inside them, but other than that, I have found them to be really diligent about packing the truck up tight so that you pay the least amount you can. You also are not obligated to pay for a full truck -- they will break it down to half a truck, a quarter of a truck, etc.

If I were you, I'd call them and ask for a special price for the house, as opposed to paying by the truck. They can probably send a guy out to give you an estimate, or suggestions. They may have a larger truck they can use at a different price, rather than showing up with a smaller truck and having to full it multiple times. Just lay out for them what you're facing and ask their opinion.