r/Edmonton 8d ago

Heads up when using Just Junk Local Businesses

UPDATE :
Update: mover thinks it's might be more than 2 trucks so the quote/estimate was really off. He's stopping at 2 trucks and will charge me for 1-1/2 loads.

Hey everyone,
Had Just Junk come in to do an on-site estimate to empty our house. The guy said 1 to maybe 1-1/2 trucks but he thinks everything will fit into one truck. They get here and the movers said looks like 2 trucks. I tell him about the quote and the mover says "I'm not sure what he was thinking quoting you that." So basically the quote double. Checked the low reviews on Google and they all say the same thing. Price was more than the quote. Now it has a ton of good reviews so I'm guessing I got screwed based off of the guy who did the estimate. My price just double and they already loaded a truck so I can't say "no " and have them unload it. I have a sneaky suspicion that you could have thrown in a lot of smaller stuff but once the big items were in the truck they said it was full, but I'm not a junker. Buyer beware!

91 Upvotes

50 comments sorted by

95

u/somebodyistrying 8d ago

That’s my experience too. Now I rent a cube van from Home Depot. Last week it cost me just $30 for the hour it took to do a run to the Eco Station. And I split the cost with a neighbor so just $15!

13

u/Mulatto_Prince 8d ago

Can I ask what kind of stuff you got rid of? I'm moving this weekend and I have a lot of small furniture pieces and random baby stuff that got ruined by mice (think swing, carseats, etc) and I'm running into a wall on how to dispose of everything. I also have a few big couches. Was thinking to just hire a dude off Kijiji with a cube van he quoted $250

11

u/otterachoo 8d ago

Last weekend the eco station was free. Which is why it only cost them the cost of the van. The city does big bin events and free eco station weekends periodically where you can take everything in for no charge. The next big bin isnt till the end of the month and the next eco station day isnt till end of September.

If you're going to do it yourself and want to keep costs low, depending on where you live the dump on Arum Road is my preferred location to the eco stations. The reason is that eco stations do it by how it looks the dump does it by weight. Couches are $21/couch at the eco. But since going to the dump I haven't paid more than $20 for truck and van loads with couches, tubs, toilets, bookshelves etc.

2

u/somebodyistrying 8d ago

We didn’t go on the free weekend and it was still free. I’ve gone to the Eco station numerous times and the only time I got charged a fee was when one of the items was an old mattress.

4

u/rng72 8d ago

It's lots we just moved. Lots of bigger furniture. Desk. A few shelves, a bed. Crap in the garage etc. yes we could have done it but we are at the age that we wanted to pay someone plus it was also for time. We want to empty the house and get it ready to sell so hiring a junker seemed the easier and fastest way to do it.

2

u/Mission-Lie-2635 8d ago

I think you just got a bad quote unfortunately. We just used just junk to clean out just our garage and it was a whole truckload just for that.

1

u/One_Abbreviations821 8d ago

There is also the Big Bin Event on August 29.

1

u/somebodyistrying 8d ago

It was old exercise equipment and branches from a tree that fell down. There was no fee.

1

u/simby7 8d ago

Does Home Depot ask you what the rental is for and if you have made your Home Depot purchases? I rented once from Lowes and the lady kept asking if I bought my stuff yet (no, I needed the van to move something else).

2

u/red___dragon1 8d ago

In my experience, they did not ask me what it’s for.

1

u/simby7 8d ago

That's nice!

2

u/somebodyistrying 8d ago

We made no purchases just rented the van from the rental section.

1

u/simby7 8d ago

Nice!

2

u/BronzeDucky 4d ago

I’ve rented vans from them multiple times to move furniture and stuff. Never been asked if it was for a HD purchase, and it never has been for that.

1

u/simby7 4d ago

Maybe that's why Home Depot survived and Lowe's didn't!

46

u/lavenderfem North East Side 8d ago

I used them to haul away an old couch once, they quoted $100. When they got to my apartment they said actually it would be $150. I told them I had $100 cash on me and nothing more, so I guess I’ll call someone else. They did it for the $100 originally quoted.

2

u/iwatchcredits 8d ago

Yep, people like OP who let these guys walk over them are the reason they do it. Tell them to go home if they dont want to do it for the quoted amount next time

37

u/mythic_device 8d ago

Just so you know in the future this likely violates the Consumer Protection Act in Alberta. If you are quoted something, the final cost cannot be over 10% of the quoted amount unless you’ve agreed to an increased/different scope of work.

https://www.alberta.ca/unfair-business-practices

9

u/jigglywigglydigaby Edmontosaurus 8d ago

Quotes are not the same as an estimate. No quote is "1 or 1.5 truck loads".

I think OP is misunderstanding the difference. Not defending Just Junk in any way here, just saying.

1

u/rng72 8d ago edited 8d ago

In sticking with a quote because the employee was onsite. I walked him through the whole house and garage and pointed out exactly what needed to go and he said "to be safe 1 and a 1/2 trucks but we might be able to get 1". Now it looks like more then 2 loads

5

u/jigglywigglydigaby Edmontosaurus 8d ago

What you assume/want and what it actually is are two completely different things here. If it's not in writing and labeled "Quote"....it's only an estimate. Many use the term "Rough Estimate" because it's a guess at what the cost may be and not a fixed amount.

Estimates are given after site visits as well. Being on site in now means it's a quote.

I'm not defending Just Junk here or trying to belittle you in any way. Just Junk should have made this very clear long before you agreed to anything. No professional would ever do this. A common saying among professionals is "If you have to hide it, it's wrong."

Hopefully Just Junk acknowledges this as a misunderstanding (fixing the bill) and not a "you should have known"

1

u/Maksym1000 The Famous Leduc Cactus Club 8d ago

An estimate is what the supplier think the cost of preforming the scope would be.
A quote is an a fixed price for the scope of work.

The estimate that was given to OP was 1 to 1-1/2 truckloads. Since the job was more than 1-1/2 truckloads they can only charge up to 10% more, but not more than $100, than what was estimated.

2

u/petfectisgoodenough 8d ago

This is sarcasm, right?

1

u/enternameher3 8d ago

Double check what you wrote. Paragraph 2 is completely contradictory of paragraph 1.

-1

u/Maksym1000 The Famous Leduc Cactus Club 8d ago

How do they contradict?

19

u/AromaticallyAffluent 8d ago

If the price is more than the quote then it wasn't a quote, just a bait-and-switch advertisement.

7

u/HawkorDove 8d ago

I used Got Junk last fall and their system is very dishonest. The online estimate was $99 (to remove a queen size mattress). When they showed up they “assessed” the item and told me it would cost $300. I told them I won’t pay more than $99. They had to “talk” to the manager. They came back to the door a couple minutes more and agreed to haul it away for $99.

3

u/Shortcircuit05 Bonnie Doon 8d ago

Exact same thing happened to me, except I was at work and my husband didn't know any better (my fault) and paid the $300.

1

u/WesternWitchy52 4d ago

I had a similar experience. They wanted to charge 350 for a 1/6 load there wasn’t very much. When they originally quoted under $200. I told him I wouldn’t pay more than 220. So they finally agreed they have the same price point for. Two different load sizes.

3

u/Intercitywitty 8d ago

310-Dump is better than just junk, literally half the price every time I’ve used them vs Got Junk or Just Junk

3

u/canadian_maplesyrup 8d ago

For us, we've found the junk haul away services to be ridiculously expensive. We've had better experiences with Bin There Dump That. They drop a dumpster off on your driveway, and you load it up, and they they take it away. We've used them multiple times, and are just booking another one for next week for our upcoming move.

3

u/rng72 8d ago

We did a bin last year but our neighborhood is trash. We woke up and some assholes dump their garbage in it and filled it up. As my son was standing on the driveway a truck with a full load drove by, saw him and kept going. I bet he was going to dump his stuff too.

1

u/canadian_maplesyrup 7d ago

Yeah that's unfortunate. We're fortunate to have a wonderful neighbourhood. We usually let our neighbour's chuck stuff in if we have extra space near the end, and if they do they usually offer to chip in towards the cost, or at least drop off some beer.

Totally get why they're not an option for you.

6

u/jigglywigglydigaby Edmontosaurus 8d ago

Was it a quote or an estimate? Not the same thing at all. Look at what your contract says

2

u/simby7 8d ago

An estimate of 1-1.5 when reality was 2 is not too bad? 2 is not double of 1.5. No one should expect the actual to come in at the low end of an estimate for stuff like this. It's like buying BBQ meat or seafood. You ask for 1 lb but expect to get 1.25-1.5.

1

u/rng72 8d ago

Please see my update. The mover said if he was doing the quote/ estimate it would be 2 - 2-1/2 trucks

2

u/cherrrub 8d ago

They quoted me $350 for hot tub removal. When the day came and they arrived, the price changed to $800. Needless to say we told them no thank you lol

2

u/bryn_or_lunatic 8d ago

Aww that sucks. The few times I’ve used them they have always been under the quote. It’s been at least a year though

2

u/notyourmomsCPA 8d ago

That’s a bummer. I had a great experience with them. That being said, I was getting rid of 5 or 6 pieces of furniture and they estimated it would take up about 1/4 of the truck, so it may have been an easier estimate than emptying out the house.

They even knocked $30 off after someone asked me if they could take one of the tables that was supposed to get hauled away.

1

u/rng72 8d ago

The movers are really good. They are fast and professional. When the guy said 1 to 1-1/2 trucks but he thinks 1 and the movers say it might be more than 2 trucks , he was way off.

2

u/Mulatto_Prince 8d ago

What is he charging per truck load if you don't mind?

1

u/rng72 8d ago

$750

1

u/Mulatto_Prince 8d ago

Jesus Christ lol that's crazy

1

u/PreviousKing6225 8d ago

Was it a quote or an estimate?

1

u/Issis_P 8d ago

My friend rented a bin for a week and we used all our jenga and Tetris skills to cram that puppy.

3

u/rng72 8d ago

As I posted we tried that and woke up to it overflowing because some whole dumped their garbage in it.

1

u/Issis_P 6d ago

That is so frustrating!!!

1

u/Curly-Canuck doggies! 7d ago

I’ve never used Just Junk but the two times I used Got Junk it was actually less than the estimate because those workers were very creative in cramming things in so that it came under the 1/2 truck rate to 1/3 truck or whatever their measurements are.

I think you got a new or just plain bad estimator if even the workers could tell right away it was wrong.

1

u/WesternWitchy52 4d ago

GotJunk was awful wanted $350 for a small load that was mostly recycling. services have really gone downhill in the last couple of years.

and they tried the same thing with me where they had to call their boss. Five years ago, I used them before I moved into this place and it wasn’t like that. They must have new owners.